Once In a Long While
by Tseng-San
Summary: Yuffietine! Post-DoC, with Lucrecia, Hojo, and Deepground out of the way, what's going to happen to the silent gunman. Has he been able to come to terms with his past?
1. Prologue

"Vinnie!!!" Vincent looked up at the sounded of the voice and saw a small figure flying at him from the top of the stairs. He didn't see it coming in time and was taken back in surprise as the force of the being knocked him promptly on his back and on the floor of Seventh Heaven.

He blinked once or twice before his eyes focused on the being who now sat on top of him, grinning triumphantly. It took him a moment longer to realize who it was. "Hello Yuffie."

"Hello? Hello?" Yuffie echoed, raising an eyebrow and starting to look like she was about to get mad. "You know you got a lot of nerve, making us thing you were dead. I mean heck, how are you alive anyways? We all saw you speed at like… top speed towards that… Omega thing and when the sky cleared, you were nowhere to be found. I come to repeat that you were always different, but I guess that's why you're you! And…"

"Yuffie…" Vincent said, after she had continued her rambling for a little longer.

"Hmm?"

"Would you kindly get off me?" Vincent stated flatly, raising a single, ebony eyebrow.

"Oh!" Yuffie started, immediately turning a bright shade of pink before quickly getting off him, giving and apologetic smile. "Sorry."

He moved to sit up and looked at the tiny ninja beside him, who was now looking at the floor, lost in her own thoughts. "… it's alright."

Vincent than rose to his feet and moved to go up the stairs to see the others.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_Damn, _She thought, staring at the floor, _that was so awkward._

It was weird, having been on top of Vincent in such an intimate fashion and not even realizing it. Come to think about it, she didn't exactly mind it. She shook her head quickly, _Ew! Grossness! This is Vin-cent we're talking about here Yuffie! That's disgusting! Head… out of the gutter! Out of the gutter!_

She stared after him at the stairs for a long while, mind bouncing about the place when her train of thought was interrupted by an incredibly monotonous female voice.

"By my calculations, you will have successfully bored through those steps with your eyesight in approximately two point five billion years." Shelke voiced from behind her, giving her the blank look that she usually carried.

"Oh--!" Yuffie said, jerking upright and looking at the oddly normally dressed girl. "Sorry Shelke, I ddin't see you there."

"I arrived halfway through your conversation with Vincent." Shelke announced plainly, "However, he seems to have left about five minutes ago and you have attempted to demolish the stairway ever since."

Yuffie turned a deep shade of pink and looked away.

"Why are you staring after him?" Shelke asked, an oddly curious tone underlying in her voice, she cocked her head o emphasize her point.

The tiny ninja's eyes darted back to the girl. "I-it's not what you think!" Yuffie stuttered, looking wide-eyed. "I-I'm just glad he's back, that's all!"

She blinked, once or twice. "I did not say anything." She said, repeating what Vincent had said to her recently on the Sierra before walking up the stairs after Vincent.

She opened her mouth to retort at the retreating form of the small woman, but fell silent the moment she realized that she had nothing to say. Leviathan, she couldn't even think correctly. _Darn that Shelke, taking advantage of me like that! But this is NOT over! Noooooo… The great Yuffie Kisaragi will have her revenge._

She got to her feet, having completely forgotten about her awkwardness and rather occupied with planning how to bleach Shelke's hair in her sleep. She grinned mischievously and skipped up the stairs, regaining her former composure in no time.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Glad to see you back Vincent." Cloud waved from his desk, with Tifa standing beside him. Apparently, he was filling out forms for his delivery business.

"Vincent!" Tifa yelled excitedly and ran over to the cloaked man, embracing him in a light hug. He stiffened for a moment, but lightly returned it. "Welcome back!"

Marlene was the next one to come up to him, cocking her head to the side as she approached the man. Vincent raised an eyebrow at the tiny girl, he had always wondered why a girl such as herself would not be afraid of someone such as himself. However, the girl never seemed to show any fear whatsoever when around the vampire-like man.

"You had us all very worried Mister Valentine." The girl nodded, "Are you okay now?"

Vincent strunk back, a little surprised by the girl's words to him. He was also surprised as to why everyone would be worried about someone like him. It wasn't like he often went too far out of his way to care for others. Or at least, he generally pretended to.

_Ah Vincent, you pretend not to care but you always pull through in the end._ He recalled Cait Sith jibbing at him after he had thought Reeve had been shot down by a Deepground soldier. It turned out that that Reeve was just another robot that Reeve had designed as a disguise. He should have known.

After a moment, he gave a small smile and nodded. The girl, who seemed happy with the answer and skipped over to the corner of the room where her _Papa_ was sitting. The dark man covered in muscle lifted the girl up onto his lap with his one good hand. "Yo Vince."

It was all he had to say really, Barrett Wallace never really said much to the cloaked gunman, mainly because Vincent never really spoke back. Vincent simply nodded at the large man.

"People care more about you than you might think." Came the monotonous voice of the girl behind him. Shelke walked over to the desk and sat down at a nearby chair. "Yuffie especially, she was out looking for you almost every day."

Vincent raised an eyebrow and turned around to see as red-faced tiny ninja, who had apparently walked in just as Shelke has said her last statement. "Is this true?"

"Well… ummm… errr…" She turned a bright shade of red and looked at the floor sheepishly, trying the best to will the color out of her cheeks. "… yea."

"Why?"

She looked up, finally able to recover from her furious blush attack. "Geez Vinnie, do you have to wonder why I would be looking for a friend? Hmmm?"

Vincent was a bit taken aback. "Friend?"

Yuffie blinked a couple times, her face rather blank of emotions for once. "Errr… yea, friend. You know like… F-R-I-E-N-D? Like you know, pal? Like buddy? Like what's up dude?"

"I think he got da point, brat." Barrett spoke up from the corner of the room, earning a glare from both Yuffie and his daughter.

"Papa don't say mean things about Auntie Yuffie okay?" Marlene frowned at her father, who flushed in slight embarrassment.

"Thanks Mar." Yuffie smiled at the little girl before smirking at the man, who looked away and grumbled something. Having dealt with that situation, Yuffie looked over at Shelke. "So where'd you find him hmm? I looked _everywhere!_ Heck I even checked back in Wutai."

Shelke seemed to resist the temptation to roll her eyes, but remained as emotionless as ever. "Doctor Lucrecia's Cavern, of course."

"Oh…" Yuffie said, her face falling ever so slightly before perking back up. "Well it's awesome that you're back!"

_Why did she seem…_ Vincent thought, gazing intently at the tiny ninja, who had started busying herself at a nearby desk. _Almost disappointed?_

_**I believe something troubles her mind.**_

_Chaos?_

You may not have noticed it before, but I have noticed that on more then one occasion. She has used that face to hide her emotions.

_Since when did you care about other people?_

I don't. However, when I am unable to read people like the books that they generally are… it irritates me.

Vincent fell silent with his conversation with the inner demon, his gaze leaving the ninja and traveling to a nearby window. After a moment he kindly took his leave, muttering something about needing rest.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Leviathan, why does Shelke have to be so… Ugh! Yuffie felt like digging a grave and burying herself in her state of shame. Vincent probably thinks I'm such a freak! Wait… why on Gaia should I care?! It's not that I live or breathe on each and every one of his whims.

She silently took her own leave and went to her temporary room. Since the WRO headquarters were being repaired from it's attacks from Deepground, Yuffie didn't really have a place to stay. So Cloud and Tifa had generously allowed her to stay in the guestroom.

She was so consumed in her thoughts that when she entered the room and plopped herself onto the bed, she didn't even notice the bathroom door closed nor the sound of the shower head going.

It's not like she had always been so damn interested in the man known as Vincent Valentine… okay okay, that was a lie. She recalled that the first day that she had met him, she had thought him… kinda cute… in a totally dark and mysterious way.

She remembered berating her thought all the way from Nibelheim onward. Thinking things like _Grossness! He's so creepy, mean, and… pretty much dead._ And yet she would always catch herself sidewardly glancing at the cloaked gunman, like a moth to the flame, at least that was the best analogy she could think of.

She groaned out loud, covering her head with her pillow, he was still in love with that Lucrecia girl anyways. The fact that he had been at her cave proved it, who was she kidding? Why would he ever think of her as anything more than just a spoiled, little brat. That's what everyone else thought didn't they?

She groaned again and closed her eyes, attempting to rest, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to in any way possible.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Vincent felt the hot water splash onto his face, refreshing himself from histime of solitude and coming to terms with the lady of his past. What he could say from that experience, was that he had been able to move on. Sure, he still cared about her, but he had come to terms with his past, his failures, finally able to atone for the sin of not being able to do anything.

_Anyways, Lucrecia would tell me that it wasn't my fault anyways._

Host, that is something I do not understand about you. It is not impossible to move on, to find someone else to be truly happy with.

_Demon, who would ever love a monster like me? I am destined to continue on alone, a fact I have come to terms with a long time ago._

The demon was silent for a moment, as if contemplating something for a moment. _Chaos?_

… What about… Nevermind.

Vincent narrowed his eyes ever so slightly but decided to ignore it for the time-being. He had learnt long ago that it was impossible to get the demon to tell him something that he didn't want to tell. Closing his eyes, the man finished cleansing himself and turned off the faucet to the flowing pipe.

He stepped out of the shower and grabbed the towel off the rack nearest to him, drying himself off rather thoroughly. In a moment, only his hair remained damp, clinging to the skin of his back. He pulled on his pants and decided not to wet his shirt with his hair and simply flung it over his shoulder before opening the door to the bathroom.

There was a pause, as he stopped and saw a tiny form on the bed of the room. Obviously, the form also noticed the swinging of the door and abruptly sat up. There was a silence for a good long moment as to stared at each other. But after she regained her senses, Yuffie turned a bright shade of red and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"You PERV! Get out of _my _room!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_**Author's Notes:**_

_Tseng-San: _So, this is my first Yuffietine. Well, actually, my first fanfic… period. But yea, I guess you guys get the point.

_Elena: _They probably think you're just an idiot. Who knew Tseng liked you write?

_Tseng-San:_ -scowl grows- Elena…

_Elena: _Temper, temper… you keep this up and Reno and Rude will know of your fetish. Oh and… Tseng-San doesn't own any of FFVII or its chars, he isn't even actually Tseng.

_Tseng-San: _Right, anyways, R&R!


	2. Difficulties

She blinked, face beet red and face furious. "Well? Get out!"

He returned her remark with a shocked blink of his own. "Tifa had told me that I would be staying in this room..."

"WHAT?!"

She took the moment to turn even a deeper shade of red, if it was possible, she believed that her face would combust into flames at any moment. She was about to retort when her face fell upon his bare upper body. She swore she could have been drooling before she shook her head and squeezed her eyes close as tight as possible.

_Thank you, Vincent, for making this even more awkward than Gods would deem possible._ She thought before burying her head in her pillows again, attempting to hide her embarrassment.

Vincent, obviously realizing that he was only half-decent immediately shot back into the restroom to put his shirt on. She sighed against the pillows as the door closed and willed the color in her cheeks to fall, wondering if it was possible if steam was rising from her cheeks. If that was humanly possible, she knew that it was happening at that open.

She began to allow her mind wander about her current predicament. It's not like she hated the idea of Vincent in her room, but it was just so… awkward! _Grossness! What if we walk in on each other while the other is indecent or something?! Not that I would really mind--… Ew! Stop! Stop! Stop! This is Mister Valentine here, Mr. Unattainable, Mr. I'm going to loathe my life away, Mr. I can't love anyone._ Just thinking about it drove her into a depressed state.

When Yuffie thought her cheeks had significally died in color, she bolted out of the room. "TIII- FAH!!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

Shelke happened to walk by in the halls as Yuffie sped by her, not failing to notice her intense look. By the time the small ninja was out of earshot, (which wasn't long, the girl was booking it at maybe 40 MpH,) she simply shrugged and kept walking. "I assume things will just keep getting stranger."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_She's mad._ He thought sadly, taking a seat on his designated bed, reach was about a couple feet from Yuffie's bed. True, Yuffie's presence there had shocked him, but he had not expected her to run as if all hell was chasing her. _She probably can't stand being around me._

Vincent sighed and fished drying his hair, only to responded with a deeper, more guttural sigh. _**You truly are dense, Vincent Valentine.**_

Vincent raised an eyebrow, _Chaos?_

_**You can't assume that for one second she might simply be embarrased?**_

He fell silent for a moment, loss in the recesses of his mind in which even Chaos could not hear him. _She must truly dislike me._ He thought after a moment, ignoring Chaos' comment altogether.

_**For the love of all that is good and holy…**_ Chaos fell silent after that, dissapearing into the depths of Vincent's mind, muttering something about a way to cave in Vincent's '_dense_' skull.

Vincent however, simply slide his dress shirt back on and properly dressed himself before proceeding out the door and down the hallway.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

There was the sound of a key turning the door to the temporarily closed bar, allowing the lock to unhinge itself and the door to swing open. Through it came a young boy with somewhat long, (for a guy,) brown hair that seemed to flay out a bit. Denzel Strife sighed after a long day at school and simply removed his shoes before throwing down his backpack, shrugging his shoulders from the new release in weight.

Ever since the boy had been admitted into a nearby school, he had found himself loathing every minute of it. He felt as if the teachers were attempting to cram information that he would never need in real life into his head and honestly, he didn't need any of that. Still, after much prodding from both Cloud and Tifa, he continued to go.

He loved coming back home, especially recently because their new house-guest.

"TIII- FAH!!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

… speaking of which.

"H-hey Yuffie!" He started as a flying form passed him quickly.

She looked over her shoulder and muttered something that sounded like a muddled, '_hey Denzel_' before completely disappearing down the hall, leaving a slightly disappointed Denzel. That wasn't like Yuffie at all, the boy had gotten used to fierce bear hugs from the tiny ninja after coming home from school… but today… nothing.

He would be lying to himself if he said that he didn't feel irked.

"Hello, Denzel." A deep, tenor voice sounded from behind him.

_Oh,_ Denzel thought, _of course, it had to be him._

Denzel Strife was a lot of things, but he was not stupid. As much as Marlene would sometimes attempt to convince him otherwise, he wasn't. He was well aware of Yuffie's ongoing infatuation with the dark gunslinger, as much as it infuriated him. Every part of his being told the boy that he never stood a chance with the young ninja while the dark and gloomy was around, still, why Yuffie liked Vincent was lost to him.

"Hey Vince." Denzel exhaled before walking away.

The dark-haired man raised his eyebrow at the boy's use of Yuffie's made nickname for him, his lips pressed into a thin line, clearly unimpressed. The cloaked gunsman shook his head and walked soundlessly in the direction that he had heard the screams.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"TIII- FAH!!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

A pair of copper colored eyes widened slightly in amusement as a hand went up to brush rather long strands of hair. Tifa supressed a giggle and simply fought the urge not to burst out laughing, if only to annoy the smaller girl further. However, a straight face plastered on her head showed that she was successful in that struggle.

She looked onward as the daughter flew open to reveal a red-faced, furious ninja who was panting loudly and glaring daggers at the taller woman. She slowly raised a threatening finger at the brunette as she shook with what seemed to be uncontrollable rage.

"Y-you…" Yuffie spat out, as if she couldn't believe what was going on. Again, Tifa struggled not to giggle.

"Hmmm?" Tifa raised an eyebrow, almost innocently. So far she had flawlessly shown that she had _no_ idea what Yuffie was so miffed about.

"W-why'd you do it?!" Yuffie demanded, apparently unconvinced.

"Why'd I do what?" Tifa asked, nonchalantly playing with a long strand of hair.

"Don't _what_ me, lady!" Yuffie barked, getting redder with each passing moment. "You k now exactly what I'm talking about!"

Tifa blinked once, or twice, giving off a rather innocent and confused look. "I'm sorry Yuffie, but I really have _no_ idea w hat you're talking about."

She was fuming, and Tifa was surprised that steam hadn't begun flying from her ears. "W-why'd… you put me and Vincent in the same room?!"

Tifa cocked her head and smiled, as if she finally understood what she was going on about. "Oh… that. Well Yuffie, you need to realize that we _do_ only have one available guest room at the moment. Barrett is in the other and well… no would want to share a room with the snore machine."

She laughed slightly before continuing. "Other than that, we simply have no other room."

"Then put Vincent in Barrett's room!" She screamed, still furiously red and thoroughly embarrased.

"Yuffie," Tifa reprimanded, now taken aback, "you know full well that that guest room only has one twin bed, there is no way that Vincent could sleep in there. I'm sorry but you're just going to have to endure that until Barrett leaves."

She continued to stand there, silently brooding and seething anger with her fists clenched at both sides. Tifa was actually surprised that the girl hadn't assaulted her yet.

"…Fine." She finally relented. "But the moment Barrett is gone, I want him OUT!"

With that, the young ninja stalked out the room and slammed the door behind her. _How cruel,_ Tifa thought, _what did that door ever do to her?_ She smiled to herself before continuing to brush her long hair.

_Oh well,_ Tifa thought and looked at herself at the mirror, _I can only hope that they grow closer because of this._

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

After a couple hours of wondering whether he should confront Yuffie or not, he conceded to the latter and sat down to read a book in of the boothes by the bar. He was silently enjoying company with himself when a door silently opened and a small figure walked into the room.

Raising his eyes from his book, he saw the small figure stumble into the couch opposite from him and place small hand on the table.

"Hello Mister Valentine." The small voice of Marlene held a bit of awe in it as she regarded the cloaked gunsman that had helped save her about a year before.

"Hello Marlene." Vincent responded, slowly closing the book before him and laying it on the table. There was a lot of things that Vincent was, but he didn't exactly want to be rude to a small girl. That was one sin that he didn't want to add on the list that he wished to atone for.

"Ummm… I was wondering…" Marlene frowned, as if wondering how to phrase her question. "… if you could help me understand guys better?"

Vincent raised a single, ebony eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be asking Denzel or Cloud about that?"

She blushed slightly and shook her head. "Cloud is gone… again, and Denzel… well Denzel is the one I wanted to ask about."

Vincent frowned slightly as if wondering how to address the tiny girl before him, but after a moment of contemplating, he simply shrugged his shoulders. "Ask away…"

The small girl let out a small yelp of victory and proceeded to prod at Vincent for the next five minutes, asking him questions that he had no hope in answering and making him thoroughly regret speaking at all. _Perhaps a couple more years in the coffin to atone for this sin would have been more worth it._

After a short a moment of silence, the girl looked up nervously at Vincent and bit her lip, wondering if she should continue with the next question. "Uhmmm… well… one last question."

Vincent raised a single eyebrow and simply nodded.

"Today, after Denzel came home from school," Marlene started, turning to look out the window, "He was muttering something like… _she was better off before he came._ What do you think he meant?"

Vincent stayed still for a moment, but then silenetly shook his head. "I unfortunately have no idea what your friend meant, perhaps it is something that you should as him."

"Oh… okay." Marlene responded, looking slightly deflated. She looked at her hands for a moment before keeping true to her promise and slipping silently from the booth.

After the door closed he simply sighed, even the two children did not enjoy his presence here.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_Of all the nerve, all the nerve in the entire world! _Yuffie thought, still seething in anger at her current predicament, _I hate her I hate her I hate her!_

_Why did she put him in MY room!? I oughta shove my Conformer up her ass and make her wish she had stuck him on the floor with Mister Marshmellow! _She sighed and turned over on her bed, suddenly realizing that Vincent still hadn't returned to '_their_' room. _Where is Mister Dark and Gloomy anyways?!_

Jumping from her bed, her had calmed herself down considerably before even attempting to walk from the room. She frowned slightly when she found him, silently reading a book at the one of the boothe's in the bar before deciding to approach him.

"H-hey Vinnie!" She said, resuming her normal façade. _That it Yuffie! Act casual!_ "Err… sorry about… y'know… yelling at you and all."

His eyes didn't even leave the book! Yuffie swore inwardly at the lack of response that she ever got from the man. "…It's of no consequence."

"Err… well yea it is." Yuffie said, plopping herself down on the couch that Marlene had recently occupied, frowning when the man still didn't look up. "It was mean of me, and so I'm sorry."

"…it's of no consequence, Yuffie." The man repeated, eyes still not leaving his book.

She rolled her eyes before snapping her hand forward and grabbed the book from straight under his nose and yanking it from his grasp. "Gawd Vinnie, I'm trying to apologize here! Could you at least pay attention?!"

There was a split before a golden claw shot out and snagged Yuffie's wrist, grabbing it so tightly that blood trickled down her wrist from where the claw had punctured her skin.

"Ow ow ow ow!" Yuffie yelped, dropping the book almost immediately, "LET ME GO YOU JERK!"

Vincent suddenly snapped out of it and released her arm immediately, eyes alarmed at the pain he had unintentionally caused her. "My apologies Yuffie, I had no idea…" He trailed off somewhat pathetically.

When he reached out to aid her bleeding wrist, she simply drew back like a snack had struck her, eyes glaring daggers at the man before her. She looked like she was going to yell at him, scream at him, slap him or something in the like but after a moment she simply whimpered and slid off the couch before hurrying out of the room.

Vincent sighed deeply, could he do nothing right?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_**Author's Notes:**_

_Tseng-San: _Well that doesn't suck at all, man, Vincent needs to work on his social skills.

_Elena:_ He's not the only one, you know.

_Tseng-San:_ -glares at Elena- Perhaps you need more paperwork to keep you in check…

_Elena:_ -eyes widen- No sir, I'm q-quite alright… thank you. -hurries off-

_Tseng-San:_ -chuckles- Anyhow, I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of it's characters; however, the ideas within this plot are original. R&R!


	3. The Past

He didn't see the small ninja for the rest of that day, and somehow he knew he wouldn't until the sun went down and she was forced to get back into _their_ room in order to turn in for the night. If the ninja didn't want to be found, she wouldn't be, that much was obvious. The usual loud ninja would generally surprise the group by how quiet she _could_ be when she _wanted_ to.

As rare as it was; however, it was unsettling.

You truly are dense…

Chaos' words rung through his head again, almost haunting him. He sighed and retired from searching for the tiny woman, returning to his book that had been discarded on the table of the booth. Picking it up, he flipped it open and attempted to read once again. He was however, unable to focus and threw the book across the room, watching it slam against the opposite wall with more force than he had originally intended.

Once again, he sighed, what had the book done to him? He sunk into the couch again and proceeded to brood.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"I do not forgive you…" His heated voice sounded in the depths of the room. "… sorry will never be enough for me to forgive you."

_Even at the time, he knew he didn't really mean it, but some perverse part of him wanted to make the girl suffer. To watch her wallow in the sin that she had committed and grovel in repentance. Well no, even that was a lie… that was what he wished he was thinking, but it wasn't. In truth, the reason he was being so cold was because he was mad at himself for trusting her._

_For allowing himself to be weak._

_The shoulders of the tiny ninja proceeded to shake unrelentingly, soft sobs could be heard in the room and he knew that Yuffie was crying. Yuffie was crying because what… did she feel guilty? Did she truly see the wrong in her deed? Something made Vincent want to take back what he said, but immediately he recalled the moment that she had locked them into that large cage and how smug she had looked… he hardened almost immediately._

"_I… we trusted you, and you betrayed us." Vincent said coldly, "We almost died at the hand of Don Corneo because we did not have the materia that YOU took from us."_

_He turned back to the window and gazed out into the distance, a clear sign that the conversation was over._

"_O-okay… I-I… unders-stand." She said, still sobbing as softly as she could as she left the room._

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_Bang!_

Cloud had just finished powering down the large vehicle that he had named Fenrir when he heard a sound resonate from the bar. Immediately, he drew his main sword from the depths of Fenrir and quickly entered the bar, thinking that it was just another drunk that was causing trouble for Tifa.

As he threw open the door, his eyebrow immediately rose, the bar was completely empty and not even Tifa was manning the bar. _Oh._ He thought, sudden realization dawning upon him. _It's a Sunday, Tifa doesn't run the bar on Sundays._

It was true, in respect for Aerith, their long lost friend, Tifa had refused to do business on Sundays due to the amound of time that Aerith would generally spend in that church of hers. He sighed, painful memories returning to haunt him once more.

Quickly, he shook his head and searched for the source of the noise, almost immediately finding it. There was a book sprawled out in the corner of the room, and in one of the booths sat a lone figure.

"Vincent?" Cloud called out softly, sheathing his weapon and seating himself in the couch that had had one too many occupants for a day in which the bar was not open. Receiving no response, he waved his hand in front of the man's face, Still no reaction.

"… do not forgive you…" Vincent said softly, apparently still in a trance.

"Vincent?" Cloud asked, now exceptionally concerned. Vincent was one that usually tried to atone for his sins, not refuse it to someone else. "Vincent, snap out of it!"

"H-hm?" Vincent blinked, finally focusing on the blonde before him. "Is there something you needed Cloud?"

"Well, no." Cloud said, raising an eyebrow. "Is… there something bothering you?"

"No." Was the response he got, in a flat, monotonous tone that the gunslinger generally gave off.

"Uh-huh." Cloud said, leaning back and crossing his arms, rather unbelieving. "Because you seem a lot worse than the last time I saw you."

It was true, when Vincent had returned to the bar from Lucrecia's cavern, he had seemed… almost lighter on his feet. Now it seemed like he once again held the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"… goodnight, Cloud." Vincent said simply before getting up and leaving the booth, neglecting the book on his way up the stairs.

Cloud raised an eyebrow and pressed his lips into a thin line, slightly irritated. He got up to head up to bed but realized that the book was still laying open. Picking it up, he realized that it was open to a particular page and quickly scanned it.

"Huh… Vincent…" Cloud said out loud, closing the book shut, "What are you getting yourself into…?"

He lay the book on the nearest counter top and left to go upstairs.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

They had been trekking for days now, and once again, Cloud had stuck Yuffie under Vincent's watchful eyes.

_Nobody trusted Yuffie at the moment, and it seemed like the only people who had truly forgiven her were probably Tifa and Aerith. Outwardly, Yuffie hid behind a mask of laughter to hide how much it hurt on the inside. It hurt, it hurt to know that no one trusted you, it hurt to know that people she had considered friends almost could not stand being near her._

_The only reason Vincent was with her now was because Cloud had told him to watch her. Out of all of them, Vincent was probably the most watchful and needed the least sleep due to his altered metabolism. He only stood being around her because he was told to._

_But now, they had been separated from the team. Cloud and the other had gone ahead to look for Black Materia while Yuffie and Vincent had been sent on a 'different' assignment._

_Yuffie secretly believed it was just all a hoax to keep her away from such powerful materia. It's not like she wanted to steal from everyone, she had been ordered to. He had told her that in order to save Wutai, to help it reclaim its former glory. She had stolen from unsuspecting strangers, tourists, and travelers… but she had never known that she would have become friends with this rowdy bunch of travelers._

_And because the two were alone, Vincent was pushing her non-stop, due to him not needing sleep as often as normal human beings. Under the stress, her façade was breaking, and she had fallen silent. It wasn't like she was loud around Vincent anymore anyways, she hadn't wanted to make him any angrier at her than he already was._

_She tripped and fell face first into a puddle of mud, it was raining horribly and she felt that it only mocked her further. She attempted to get to her feet and simply slipped again because of the fatigue she felt. There, she lay on her side and curled up into a ball, wanting simply nothing more but to die there and then._

_There was another splash as a falling pebble knocked up some mud into her face and she finally snapped. Her mask broke and she finally began to sob hysterically, immediately hiding her face in her arms and trying her best not disturb a partner that was already more than irritated with her._

_It was then that she felt a warm cloak being draped on top her. She looked up with tears still streaming down her face, seeing a cloak-less Vincent looking down at her._

"_Stop pretending." He said softly before gathering the tiny ninja into his arms and looking for the nearest place to set up shelter._

"_I-I'm…hic.. s-so sorry… hic… V-vincent!" She wailed into his chest, clutching desperately at his shirt._

"_Shh… it's okay, Yuffie."_

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

He finally found her in her bed, a white wrap bandage tied about her wrist that brought further guilt onto his heart. He sighed and walked over to her bedside, hearing that her breathing was at a regular pace, he drew the conclusion that he was already asleep.

"I'm… sorry, Yuffie." He whispered, studying her face, he noticed that her eyelids were a bit puffy and dried tears lay on her cheeks. There was a damp spot on her pillowcase where she was laying on, curled up, on her side.

_Did I really cause her that much distress?_ Vincent thought.

_**Have you never noticed how much more she pays attention to you as opposed to everyone else in Avalanche.**_ The demon in his head sounded. _**She's always wanted your approval.**_

_She doesn't need it. _Vincent thought sadly, _approval from someone as horrible as me is never needed._

With that, he crawled into the bed that lay a couple feet from hers and drifted into a deep sleep.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_**Author's Notes:**_

Tseng-San: And there's another chapter.! -closes laptop- You know Elena, you don't have to stay around.

Elena: But I like to watch, you look so serene when you're so focused.

Tseng-San: Ummm… thanks?

Elena: You do remember that you don't own FFVII or any of the characters?

Tseng-San: Yes, yes, but the idea is my own and I like it that way.

Reno: -walks in- Hey guys! What's going on?

Tseng: Nothing.

Reno: -looks from Tseng to Elena, to Tseng again- Ohhhh… okay, I'll leave you guys to your special moment then.

Elena: -turns red- Reno! It's not like that! You sick little--! -chases after Reno-

Tseng:_ -raises eyebrows- …R&R_


	4. Don't Blame Yourself

"Hey Vinnie!" The voice of the much-too-loud ninja range out about an inch from his ear, shaking him from his thoughts.

_He raised an eyebrow, "Vinnie…?"_

"_Well… yea!" she replied, looking almost sheepish._

_His only response was to turn and raise both eyebrows at the tiny ninja._

"_C-come on… can't you have at least a little fun?!" Yuffie complained, fidgeting slightly under his gaze._

"_No." He said simply, before turning back the to gaze out the window of the gloomy Ghost Hotel._

"_Well that won't do," he heard the voice of another being in the room. He turned to see the team's rather high-spirited Cetra. Since when did his room get so crowded? Had he really been so zoned out that he hadn't heard either of them come in? "Well mister, I'll make you a deal, if I get Cloud to come out with me and have some fun, you have to go out and have fun with Yuffie!"_

_Vincent gave Aerith a look as if she had just told him hell froze over, and Yuffie simply gaped at her, Aerith just giggled._

"_I'll take that as a YES!" Aerith exclaimed, spinning about. "I'll be right back!"_

_The moment she left, Vincent moved his gaze from the door to the tiny ninja._

"_H-hey! Don't look at me!" Yuffie yelped, blushing profusely, "It wasn't my idea!"_

_Vincent simply turned his gaze to the window again._

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next morning was rather simple for Yuffie. Wake up, don't talk to Vincent… eat breakfast, don't talk to Vincent… walk down the halls, don't even make _eye contact_ with Vincent.

It's not like she hated him, dear gods no, she just didn't know what to say to him. Ever since… the incident, she was… well kind of afraid for her life. It was stupid really, he had changed into the monstrosity known as Chaos right in front of her countless times and hadn't died… sure she was scared at the time but she knew Vincent wouldn't really hurt her.

What had been so damn important about that book anyways?

… speaking about the book.

_Well… if I took a quick peek at it…_ She thought, eyeing the book as it sat on a nearby counter, _I'm sure he wouldn't mind… nyuk nyuk nyuk._

He slipped off the stool that she was currently occupying and looked about, making sure that Vincent was no where to be seen. When she saw that everything was clear, she made a mad dash for the book and was about to reach for it when--…

"Hey Yuffie!"

_Drats!_ She thought, turning around. "O-oh, hey Denzel! W-why are you here? Don't you have school today? It is a Monday after all. You're not skipping… are you?"

Denzel shrugged and shook his head, "I had extra curriculum yesterday, so they let me have the day off."

Yuffie raised an eyebrow, "EC, on a Sunday?"

Denzel nodded and frowned, "Yup, they're tyrants."

"Oh… okay then." Yuffie said, turning her attention to a stray strand of hair that had fallen stubbornly on her forehead. In her hasty attempts to get out of the room before Vincent had gotten up, she had forgotten her headband in the room. She sighed as more hair fell into her face.

"S-so…" Denzel started, as if uneasy of how to phrase the question. "What's eating you?"

Yuffie looked up and shot the boy a confused look, "Hm? What do you mean?"

Denzel simply rolled his eyes and raised an eyebrow, something he had obviously picked up from Cloud. "It's Vincent, isn't it?"

"N-no!" She said all too quickly, eyes widening when she realized her folly. Denzel simply smirked. "I-I mean, of course not. Besides, aren't you a little young to stick your head into other people's business?"

"From what I've heard," Denzel said, a somewhat evil glint in his eye, "that never stopped you."

She frowned, the kid had a point. Yuffie opened her mouth to retort, but when she realized she had none, she simply shut it. It was then that Denzel noticed the bandage around Yuffie's wrist, and he stopped smirking.

"Yuffie, what happened to your wrist?!" Denzel exclaimed, reaching out to look at it.

"N-nothing!" Yuffie responded quickly, hiding her hand behind her back. "I-I gotta go!" She whipped around and sprinted out of the room without another word.

It was then that Denzel decided that he needed to get Vincent away from Yuffie, the man was not good for her at all.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

She had heard that something was wrong with Yuffie's wrist from Denzel, and that morning she had found some blood on the table of the booth that Vincent had been sitting at. It was concerning, to say the least, so Tifa quickly hurried to the guestroom and knocked on the door.

There was only Yuffie, buried under her sheets, pretending like she was asleep.

Tifa, being Tifa, knew all too well when Yuffie was pretending or not. In this case, Yuffie's breathing was too irregular and shallow for her to be soundly asleep. She sat on the side of her bed and placed a hand on the tiny ninja's shoulder.

"Yuffie, let me see your wrist." Tifa said gently, not wanting to make the smaller woman too uncomfortable.

There was a silence for a moment before the girl turned away, wrenching her shoulder from the older woman's grasp.

"Go away Teef… I wanna sleep." She muttered into the depths of her pillow, hiding her right wrist under her pillow at all times.

A pair of copper colored eyes narrowed slightly and the woman immediately tugged the ninja's arm free from the depths of the bed. She was successful; however, she had accidentally grabbed the wrist too hard and caused the young ninja to yelp in pain before pulling away.

"Oh my gods," Tifa exclaimed in a worried voice, eyebrows furrowed at the state of her wrist. "Yuffie, I'm so sorry, how did that happen to you? Shouldn't you be using a Cure materia on it?"

Yuffie frowned and nursed her wrist, only causing herself more pain in the process. "It's fine… really." She lied, lied through the skin on her teeth.

Tifa pressed her lips into a thin line before holding out her hand expectantly, giving the young ninja a look that said '_Give me your hand or else…_' The young ninja sighed and relented, gingerly laying her wrist on the woman's open palm.

"Tiffaaaaa…" Yuffie whined as the older woman began to unwrap the girl's bandage. "It's fine, I already used a Cure materia and it should be as right as rain by tomorrow or something."

"If it was minor… and you used a Cure materia…" Tifa said, gaze lifting up to lock with a pair of stormy eyes, "… then why is it not okay now?"

Yuffie bit her lip and looked away, as if she had been caught red-handed stealing someone's materia. Tifa sighed and finished unwrapping the band aid, what she saw led her to let out a surprised gasp.

The bones of her wrist seemed to have been crushed under an enormous amount of pressure, there were also scars that marked where Vincent's claw had punctured the girl's skin.

"Yuffie…" Tifa started slowly, "You're going to the hospital. Now."

"Tifa! I feel fine!" Yuffie argued, wrenching her hand back to her body, she winced as pain lashed through her wrist from the sudden movement. "Besides, if Vincent found out, he would probably hate himself!"

"So it was Vincent, huh." Tifa raised a single eyebrow, it was then that Yuffie turned a bright shade of red.

"Y-yea… b-but it wasn't on purpose!" Yuffie stuttered, nursing her wrist slightly with her left hand. "Vincent would never--…!"

"But he did." Tifa said, tone slightly flat, "Whether it was on purpose or not, he broke your wrist. But we can talk about that after we get you to a hospital."

"Tiifffaa…" Yuffie whined again, suddenly looking weaker than she had a moment ago. "I'm not going… to no… d..amn… h-hospit…"

It was then that the young ninja promptly passes out. Tifa lurched forward and caught her, eyes widening with concern.

"Yuffie! Yuffie!" After getting no response, the girl called out the door, "CLOUD! Get in here!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"That was soooo funny…" Yuffie yawned sleepily, trying her best not to let her eyelids droop. "Cloud kissed Aerith… tee heh heh…"

"_Indeed." Vincent noted offhandedly. He didn't find much amusement in Cloud's misfortune at the play, but then again, he wasn't in his teens anymore._

"… _Tifa's going to be sooooo jealous…" She said, starting to nod off._

_They were in the gondolas, once again following Aerith and Cloud as they continued on their 'date'. Vincent had not agreed to this, and under any circumstance Vincent would have refused to leave his room. But the Cetra, being Aerith, outright slapped him after he refused to keep up his end of the 'deal'._

"_You mean you made me go under ALL that embarrassment for nothing?!" The girl had screamed at him, even though Vincent knew full well that Aerith would have asked Cloud out regardless. "You sir, are taking Yuffie out for some fun, and that's final!"_

_And there he was._

_By the time he was done reminiscing, Yuffie had already fallen asleep in the chair across from him. As much energy as she had, she had spent too much of it traveling and attempting to stay up during night watches._

_He frowned slightly, the girl needed some sleep. After the ride was over, Vincent promptly gathered her up in his arms again and brought her back to the hotel, where he laid her into her bed and pulled the covers over her. He was about to walk out the door when--…_

"_V-vincent?"_

_He turned around and was surprised as the small girl wrapped her arms around him, embracing him weakly. Apparently she had jumped out of bed to catch him in time._

"_T-thank you." She whispered, "For trusting me again."_

_He frowned slightly before speaking. "Goodnight, Yuffie."_

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_**Author's Notes:**_

_Tseng-San:_ Another chapter, another day, yadda yadda yadda.

_Elena:_ Since when did you say 'yadda,' sir?

_Tseng-San: _Oh, hello Elena. I hadn't heard you come in.

_Elena: _-shrugs- Whatever. By the way, you've gotten some spam mail lately, should I go ahead and delete it?

_Tseng-San:_ Spam mail? Oh! Those. No, those aren't spam mail, they're reviews from my reviewers!

_Elena: _Reviewers? People actually like your crap--… er… I mean… wonderful writing?

_Tseng-San: _I'll pretend like I didn't hear that.

_Elena: _-blushes- Sorry sir. Erm… well, shouldn't you like… at least reply to them?

_Tseng-San: _Oh… I should, shouldn't I? -opens laptop-

_Elena: _-facepalms-

_Dear Reviewers,_

_Thank you for your wonderful reviews, I'm sorry I haven't addressed them all separately, but do know that I will come to each of your questions in time. Regarding Chaos, especially, I know that he supposedly returned to the lifestream and such and I will come back to that as the plot thickens._

_Anyways, I'll update soon._

Tseng-San.

P.S. I do not own FFVII or any of it's characters, that right belongs to Square Enix.


	5. Care

Vincent hadn't left the side of her hospital bed since she had gotten there, at it had been about four hours. Sighing audibly, the man ran his human hand through his hair, deep in thought. To be honest, he didn't even know why he was still there. After Tifa had given her a good '_piece of her mind_,' Vincent had attempted to leave, solely because he didn't want to trouble those that had been so kind to him any longer. It was then that Tifa had grabbed him roughly by the arm and socked him in the chin, hard.

"Oh no you don't!" Tifa glared daggers at the man who had fallen in surprise of the woman's actions. "This is exactly what Yuffie did not want, for you to blame yourself!"

"But…" He had responded after a moment, wiping his bloody lip, sometimes he doubted if Tifa knew her own strength. "… It is my fault."

Tifa had immediately responded to him by punching him again. This time, straight to the ear. "You coward! You go into her room _right_ this instant and make this right or I swear I will make you regret ever meeting me."

And there he was again, by Yuffie's side once again because yet another female member of AVALANCHE had coaxed him into it. Still, he knew that their intentions were noble, and they probably thought that he was too stubborn to be reached any other way. He was tempted to smile at that thought, perhaps they were right.

Yuffie stirred and groaned, eyes flitting open slightly. She coughed, breathing weakly as she did so. "W-what's wrong with me?" She asked out loud, most probably to herself as she had not noticed anyone else's presence in the room aside from herself yet.

"Internal bleeding." Vincent said softly, as to not disturb her throbbing headache that she was most probably feeling. She jumped in response, suddenly noticing the gunslinger's presence, when she said nothing and looked away, he decided to continue. "When you broke your wrist… the artery in your forearm was punctured by bone fragments and would have caused you to pass out soon from internal bleeding. However, when you bound your wrist so tightly, it cut off the flow of blood and staved off your fatigue until Tifa undid the bandage. The doctors were able to treat you before you entered a state of comatose."

An awkward silence filled the room and Yuffie continued to stare at her sheets, unable to bring her gaze to him. He took it as a sign to leave and stood up.

"I'm sorry." He said as gently as he knew how before turning around in order to leave, the only thing that stopped him was when he heard her clear her throat impatiently. He turned about and looked her in the eye.

"So what now?" She sounded irritated, even though her voice was still weak. "You're going to seal yourself up back in that god forsaken coffin and blame yourself for everything that's happened? Are you going to continue to torture yourself and continue to call yourself a monster?"

"It is my fault," He said turning his gaze to the floor, "and I am a monster…"

"SHUT UP VINCENT!" She screamed hoarsely, immediately coughing roughly and taking a couple deep breaths… after she had calmed down she continued to speak. "You are not a monster! And even if it was your fault, it was an _accident! _You hear me? A-C-C-I-D-E-N-T!"

"Yuffie, I am quite aware of how to spell the word." Vincent said, bringing her gaze back up to hers. "But accident or not, it was my fault, and I am a danger to those around me. I'm sorry."

He turned about to exit the room again when he heard her choke down a sob.

"P-please!" Yuffie cried out weakly, "Don't leave! I f-forgive you! I don't even blame you! J-just don't leave me!"

He turned about to see a desperate girl with a pair of crystalline tears falling from her face. Quickly, he strode her side and took a seat on the side of her bed, a look of concern etched across his generally stoic facial features. She then weakly flung her arms about him and cried into his chest, he stiffened for a moment, resisting the urge to get up and bolt from such sudden contact, but the girl's desperation made him feel the need to stay where he was. He gingerly wrapped his arms about her tiny form and stayed silent until she calmed down enough to speak again.

"T-that day… when you fought Omega…" Yuffie sobbed, trying her best to calm down while still clutching desperately to him like he would disappear if she let go. "… I thought you… you were…"

She couldn't even finish her sentence before she began to cry again, tears flowing unrelentingly into his shirt and dampening it. His eyes softened and he rubbed her back in smooth, small circles with his human hand, attempting to comfort her in any way that he could.

"I-if you leave now…" She tried to continue, but couldn't, silently falling into soft sobs and ragged breaths, burying her face in his shirt.

"Shhh…" Vincent said softly, cradling the tiny ninja until her sobs slowly ebbed away.

They sat there in that awkward position for awhile, staying silent until the tiny ninja looked up, her eyelids already drooping from the medication being pumped into her.

"Vin…nie…? Why is… your lip… bleedin'…?" With that, her eyes shut and Yuffie fell into a drug-induced sleep.

He carefully untangled himself from her and lay her in against the pillow, forcing back the attempt to laugh at the comment, which had been all-too-much like Yuffie. Once she seemed like she was in a comfortable position, he silently stood and strode from the room.

"Sleep well, Yuffie." He said silently before shutting the door behind him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_Hojo…_

_It looked like him, it had to be him. But what was he still doing there? Hadn't they defeated him earlier? How had he crawled his way back to the top of this god-forsaken tower? It made little to no sense whatsoever._

_But Hojo was Hojo, and regardless his intentions, they could NEVER be good. The man wasn't moving, there wasn't even a sign that he was even alive, only the beating of his long lab coat due to the ferocious winds that were kicking up._

_Vincent couldn't take any chances though. He slowly drew Cerberus and took aim._

_There was a blinding flash, and Vincent covered his eyes from it. Apparently, a nearby structure had blown up on the already collaspsing building. When he looked back at the area in which he had seen Hojo, he saw no one._

'_Perhaps the explosion knocked him over the railing.' He thought bitterly, but he had no way of finding out anymore._

_Another explosion sounded and suddenly the mad scientist was of little concern to him anymore. He needed to find a way off of the cannon._

"_VINCENT!" He heard a voice call out from a distance, quickly picking it up and spotting Yuffie charging towards him on a speeder._

_He sprinted quickly and timed a perfect jump, landing perfectly behind Yuffie on the back of her vehicle. She let out a pained grunt from the added weight to the vehicle but was able to maneuver the bike away from the tower to safety._

_Once they had landed, Yuffie immediately jumped off, rolling her neck and stretching, attempting not to hurl from the sudden airsickness that she undoubtedly felt._

"_Yuffie…" He started, getting off the bike and frowning ever so slightly, "… why did you come back for me."_

_She looked back at him and raised an eyebrow, temporarily forgetting her motion sickness. "What do you mean why? What kinda stupid question is that?"_

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Somewhere in the depths beneath Midgar…

There was the sound of an eruption, followed by the sound of two feet, solidly landing on the floor. The figure stood up, straightening before proceeding forward. Silently, it walked across the depths of water, approaching a fallen figure on a mound before him.

The lifeless body had silver hair, much like that of Kadaj, Loz, Yazoo, and Sephiroth, but this one was not one of them. The figure was infused with G cells, a different strand of Jenova cells compared to the others.

As the figure finally reached the fallen corpse, he bent down and picked the man easily up. He looked at the sky before opening his mouth, voice dry from lack of use for what had surely been awhile.

"It is not yet time for slumber…" He began, in a thick, accented voice. "We still have much work to do… my brother."

With that, the former SOLDIER known as Genesis spread his single wing, shooting up into the air with the corpse still in his arms.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"How is she?" Came the soft voice of the tall brunette seconds after Vincent had closed the door.

He stayed silent and looked at the floor, not knowing how exactly to answer. She had seemed alright, seemed like she was doing better, but she had shown a part of herself that he had never really seen… a part that cared for his well-being.

He closed his eyes and only grunted in response to her question, he himself not knowing how she was supposed to translate it.

"I see…" She replied after a moment, shaking her head and sighing before speaking again. "Well, I hope you two worked things out."

She moved to pass him, only to stop and place a gental hand on her shoulder. "She cares about you, you know that? We _all_ care about you, Vincent."

After she had spoken those words, she pushed passed him and entered the medical room, leaving Vincent to his thoughts.

He wearily retired to the waiting room and sat down, brooding silently in the depths of his mind. It was true, they did care about him, and some part of him had always known it. Still, he had never had it expressed to him to this extent. More like, he had never let them express it to this extent.

_**You are truly dense.**_

Chaos' words again, soundlessly haunting him. For some reason, Chaos had been unusually quiet for some time now, and until this point, Vincent had not noticed it. Vincent silently probed the innards of his mind, searching for his inseparable partner but when he received no response, he simply slumped his shoulders in defeat.

There was a creak of the door as a small figure entered the room, dragging Vincent out of his thoughts. The small teenager with rough, brown hair immediately glared at him and opened his mouth like he was about to say something when an even smaller figure appeared from behind him.

Marlene squealed in delight at the gunman's presence, much to Vincent's surprise. She immediately ran up to him and clambered into the seat beside him, looking up at him with big, round eyes.

"T-tifa said you were going to try to leave…" Marlene said, suddenly embracing Vincent with a strong, tight hug. He flinched visibly, not expecting it at all. Hadn't he been the one who had discouraged her just the day before? "Don't go! I'm sorry for bugging you yesterday with so many questions!"

He frowned slightly before shaking his head. Did the child blame herself for his distress? "It's quite alright, I was not leaving for that reason. And after your aunt Tifa's… persuasion, I don't think I'll be going for awhile after all."

Denzel's scowl grew darker as he heard of this new outcome, while Marlene beamed like it was the best outcome in the world. "Yay! Mister Vinnie's staying!"

Vincent arched an eyebrow before shaking his head, these kids were definitely hanging around Yuffie too much.

"Come on Marlene," Denzel finally spoke up, "we have to get to sleep, we got school tomorrow."

She pouted for a moment, but finally relented. "Okay! G'night Mister Vinnie!"

"Goodnight, Marlene… Denzel." Vincent responded as she darted out of the room. Denzel only turned back to glare at him one last time before slamming the door behind him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

She blinked, once or twice… did she really have to explain her actions? Did he really not understand that there were people in this world that cared about what happened to Vincent Valentine? She only got a raised eyebrow in response, apparently he didn't.

"Gawd, Vinnie! You're so dense!" Yuffie whined, stamping her foot on the ground to stress her point. "Can't you believe for one moment that people actually care about what happens to you?"

"… No." Came her response in that monotonous voice that he always carried with him.

She sighed audibly. "Well here's a surprise Mister Brood and Gloom! I do, so you better not die any time soon, okay?!"

All she got was a raised eyebrow in response. She sighed and rolled her eyes, apparently he was too thick to comprehend. She just gave up all together and spun on one foot.

"Come on, Vinnie!" She called out over her shoulder as she began to walk away. "Cloud and the others are waiting for us!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

**Author's Notes:**

Tseng-San: Well looks like they finally started talking again. Sorry it took me three chapters for that to happen.

Elena: I don't know Tseng, people seemed pretty pleased with the results. -flips through Tseng's spam mail-

Tseng-San: -raises eyebrows- Since when did you care about my writing?

Elena: -blushes- I don't! Err… I'm just… interested in it, that's all!

Tseng-San: -sighs- Anyways, due to some time freeing up, I've decided to post two chapters today, I hope people enjoy it.

Elena: -shakes head- You should find something to fill your time with. Why isn't Rufus placing you on assignments and reports?

Tseng-San: One word, Vacation.

Elena: What?! You never give us vacations! Well… not since Da Chao and the Corneo incident… -shudders-

Tseng-San: I don't have to give you vacations… Just like I don't have to own FFVII, the idea has to be original though

Elena: -walks away sulking-

Tseng:_ R&R._


	6. Flee

"_Just give me three minutes with those guys! No! Make it two! Well maybe three… or four--!"_

_He sighed and looked down at his legs, it was going to be a long day. After a moment of Yuffie continuing to ramble, he finally raised his hand to signal for silence before he would inwardly wish that she hadn't saved him._

"_Yuffie." Vincent said after she had finally fallen silent from her apparent conversation with the wall. "Why were you in Nibelheim?"_

_She jumped slightly at the question, as if not expecting it. "I-I told you! I was poking about."_

"_Yes…" Vincent said, turning his gaze to her and watching her fidget slightly. "But why were you poking about?"_

_She continued to fidget before coming up with a lame excuse. "Because I wanted to?" She offered rather pathetically._

"_Yuffie…" Vincent said, he crossed his arms and a scowl began to grow on his face._

"_Alright, alright!" Yuffie whined, finally breaking under the pressure that was Vincent's death glare. "I came to check up on you okay? Jeez, don't give me that look, I needed to know that you weren't rotting away in that god-forsaken coffin again."_

_Vincent raised an eyebrow, but fell silent, turning his gaze back to the floor._

"_Uh-huh…" Yuffie said, rolling her eyes. "That's what I thought, imagine how disappointed I was when I actually found you there. You should be thankful you were already getting your ass handed to you, otherwise I would've done it."_

"_Yuffie…" Vincent started, but was immediately cut off by a more-than-frustrated Yuffie._

"_I mean come on!" Yuffie said, not even looking at Vincent anymore, her eyes kind of looked out into the distance and it seemed more like she was thinking out loud than actually talking to him. "After meteorfall, and Geostigma, you think you would get a fucking clue, but noooo… Mister Brood and Gloom went all emo again."_

"_Yuffie." Vincent said more forcefully, placing a hand on her shoulder to silence her._

_She jumped in surprise and looked up at him, irritation still clearly written on her face. "Yes, Vincent?"_

"_Contrary to what you may believe." Vincent said in a flat, monotonous voice. "I did not go back to the coffin in Shinra Manor after the events of Geostigma."_

"_Oh yea?" Yuffie turned on him, challenge in her eyes. "Then what were you doing in Nibelheim? Huh, huh, huh?"_

"_Reeve sent me there." Vincent deadpanned, her face dropped immediately in realization that she had assumed wrong about him._

"_Oh…" Yuffie said, dropping her gaze to the floor. "I guess I kinda owe you an apology then… huh?"_

"_It's of no consequence." Vincent said, dropping his hand from her shoulder and looking away._

"_No, it was." Yuffie countered, looking up at Vincent again. "It was mean, and so I'm sorry."_

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"You should leave." Vincent heard as the door opened again and Denzel reemerged once more, glaring daggers at the older and taller man.

He didn't have an answer for this, but simply raised his eyebrow. He hadn't realized that his presence there had made Denzel's life so miserable, and on any level, he wanted to hear the teen out.

"All you do is hurt people wherever you go." Denzel said, each angry word felt like it pierced Vincent like bullets. He looked down at the floor as the boy echoed the thoughts that he thought about himself on a daily basis. "All Yuffie has ever done for you is look out for you, and now look where she is."

"Denzel! Don't say such things" Marlene screamed, having just come back through the door and hearing the entire thing. "Mister Vinnie's always been there to help out Cloud, Tifa, Papa, and he even saved me from the evil triplets!"

"Marlene, stay out of this." The young boy said haughtily. "No matter what he's done in the past to help us, he hurt Yuffie. Even when he knows that she would never bring herself to return the hurt."

Vincent stayed silent, Denzel was right. All Yuffie and the others had done for him was care, and all he had done was hurt them in return. He slowly rose to his feet, towering above the young boy.

"You would prefer it if I left?" Vincent asked, eyes cool without feeling.

The boy gulped at how dangerous the man looked in front of him, but he bit it down and gave him his own look of determination, nodding with renewed vigor.

"Very well." And like that, he was gone. His red cloak shipped about his shape and his form seemed to disappear under it. Once the cloak had made a funnel in the ground, it simply moved and flew out the open window, soaring into the night sky.

"No!" He heard Marlene yell before he was too far out of range of earshot. "Mister Vinnie, don't go! Denzel, why did you make him go?!"

Denzel just snorted before he walked out of the room and shut the door.

_**You are truly dense.**_

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Yuffie awoke as tiny hands poked and prodded at her. She giggled slightly and rolled a bit to get away from the hands, still half-asleep. "Vinnie…" She said sleepily, believing that she was still asleep. "… since when did you get so touchy?"

There was a slight shift in weight as something small clambered onto her bed, she frowned slightly before turning over and opening her eyes. What she thought would have been Vincent turned out to the small form of Marlene. She was wide-eyed and rather anxious, as if something horrible had happened.

"Marlene…?" Yuffie asked, furrowing her eyebrows and rising into a sitting position on her bed. "What's wrong?"

The small girl shook her head and opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated, as if unsure how to begin.

"Come on Marlene, you can tell me what's going on." Yuffie said kindly, were this any other situation, she would have thought it was cute, but the girl looked so worried…

The girl nodded, breathing a couple deep breaths before starting again, "D-denzel… made him leave!"

Yuffie's eyes widened, she was almost terrified as to ask the question in which she already knew the answer to. "V-vincent?"

She nodded quickly, "Please, don't blame Denzel! He only did it because he thought it was better for--…!"

The girl didn't even get to finish her sentence before the ninja had pulled the IV line out of her arm and flung herself out of bed, cast and all.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"… So when… well how did Reeve find you?" The ninja asked almost timidly after a few moment of strange silence.

"_I was at the Lunar Festival."_

_At these words her eyes darted up with surprise. "The Lunar Festival?! You mean, you were actually interacting with OTHER human beings?" Vincent shook his head, slightly amused with the girl's reaction. "I mean seriously, a festival would be the last place in the world to expect to find you there, I mean, what were you doing there anyways?"_

"_On my way to the Cosmo Canyon." Vincent said rather plainly, "Red wanted me help him invesigate an anomaly in the Gi Caves… Apparently, I took a detour."_

_Yuffie blinked, once, or twice. "Did Mister Darkness over here just make a Joke? A JOKE? Well, a horrible joke but a joke none the less."_

_Vincent was tempted to smile under his cloak, but he simply gave Yuffie the same, emotionless gaze that he used all the time._

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"… W-where am I?" A gruff voice sounded, pained and labored breaths followed it. The man attempted to get up but only received a good amount of pain, coursing through his system for it. He looked about the room and only met a pair of Mako blue eyes, a pair of eyes that he truly hated. "Geneisis…" He almost spat.

"That is hardly the tone I am looking for…" The former first class SOLDIER mused, sharpening his sword with a smooth-faced rock. "… especially since I just brought your soul back from the life stream."

His eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion, Mako-enhanced glare meeting another. "W-why…? Why would you do this now when you abandoned us more than three years ago?"

Genesis growled and leapt from his perch on the other side of what the man had deduced to be the insides of a cave. "I left because I still had my honor as a SOLDIER. I left because you wanted me to kill the Restrictors."

"Should family even be weighed against duty?" The man snarled, only receiving a glare in return.

"We are not real brothers, Weiss." Genesis said coolly, his tone of voice having calmed down. "The only reason that we can even deem each other such is because that bastard Hojo spliced you and the rest of the Tsviets with _my_ DNA."

There was a pang of guilt that lanced through Weiss' innards as he recalled the Tsviets, and how each of them had fallen to that cursed Vincent Valentine. Scanning the insides of the cave once more, he finally noticed that they were not the only two there.

"Rosso…" Weiss called out softly, there the Crimson lied, unconscious yet breathing weakly. His eyes darted back to Genesis with questions written in them. Genesis simply snorted.

"Contrary to what you believe, I actually do care about this dysfunctional family that we have." Genesis said coolly, he gestured over to Rosso sleeping form. "I found her minutes after I found you at the foot of _my _cave. She was in critical condition, apparently she attempted to kill herself… why? I don't know. You two are lucky, you're the only members of Deepground that survived. The WRO hunted the rest of the team like dogs."

Weiss almost shuddered, not the word almost. After a moment of regarding Rosso's slumbering form, he looked back to Genesis. "We're not the only ones that survived. My brother--… my _real_ brother lives on."

"Ah, yes…" Genesis said, having completely turning his attentiong back to his sword, sheathing it gently. "And where is Nero now?"

Weiss smirked and probed the back of his mind for his brother, but was shocked when he found something completely different. His eyes widened and he gripped in head when a ferocious migraine struck it.

_**Who are you!? **_The foreign voice called to him. _**Where is our host?!**_

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_**Author's Notes:**_

Tseng-San: And done with another chapter, after a rather long delay. –makes a face-

-looks around but doesn't see Elena- … looks like she's finally decided to stop bothering me, anyhow, I do not own FFVII or any of its characters, that right belongs to Square Enix.

_Elena:_ -walks in- Hi Tseng!

_Tseng-San:_ And I thought my bliss would remain… -mutters-

Elena: What?

_Tseng-San: _N-nothing! R&R!


End file.
